Thinking Inking

New Year's Thought

I'm getting too old for New Year's resolutions, but when I saw this little Rubber Soul stamp, We Must be Willing, I decided that it was definitely worth further thought in the upcoming year! I don't know about you, but sometimes I get my plate so full of good things that I find I am excluding or at least shortchanging the truly important things. I won't bore you by babbling further, but I thought I'd share this little stamped reminder.

Rebecca Oehlers, in her fabulous blog Hemidemisemiquaver, (say that three times quickly), posted a tutorial on using acrylic blocks to make coasters a few weeks back. I commented on them, and she blessed me with a set to play with!  I am working on a trio of them that I'll try to have finished in the next few days, but I used the fourth one tonight for this little piece. (I don't think I'll use it as a coaster; I'll probably figure out a way to mount a hanger on the back.) The printed paper is from My Mind's Eye Jen Wilson Signature Collection, the stamped sentiment from Rubber Soul, and the 3-1/2" square acrylic block is from Kitchen Sink Stamps, where they come in sets of four. I used flame Dew Drops to glue around the edges and SU's kraft taffeta to tie around the finished block.

Be sure to check out Rebecca's blog and tutorial; it will be well worth your time!

Embrace Life Empathy

Tonight I went back to my stamping roots and used my watercolor crayons directly to rubber on my SU Embrace Life stamp set. I first misted the long-stemmed flower stamp lightly, then used my Eggplant and Artichoke watercolor crayons to color the rubber. I then stamped the images on watercolor paper and added a bit more color on the inside of each one, as well as a bit of yellow on the outside.  Because it looked like it needed some fullness, and I didn't want to overstamp the blooms, I cut masks from Eclipse tape for the blooms, masked them, then stamped the greenery and watercolored it.

For the background layer, I used the Brocade stamp, tone-on-tone with Eggplant, then used the side of my scissors to distress the cardstock.  I used my Scor-Pal to add a decorative line around three of the edges of the watercolored image, then used some Antique Linen Distress ink as well as my scissor blade to age the paper edges. The ribbon is SU's Kraft taffeta. Sentiment is from Verve Visual's Heartfelt Phrases set. I used a gold eye pin with some eggplant and green beads to run behind the ribbon and further emphasize the word heart. By the way, I use Ranger's Matte Accents glue to hold my pin and my beads in place. Why matte? If it seeps out from under the edge a tiny bit, it won't stand out because it isn't reflective! That means no more stressing about one tiny, shiny spot on a card. :-D  That's about it--pretty simple, once I finally decided what I was going to do!

Copic Products Winners!

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

143	222	297	203	20	236	416

Timestamp: 2007-12-30 04:11:07 UTC

_________________

(It was actually 10:04 CST; the number generator must be on EST.) 

I so enjoyed reading your comments. Some tickled my funny bone, and some touched my heart. You are a special group of people, and I thank you for visiting my blog. I wish that I had something for everyone, but even if I had 442 prizes to give out, I'd go broke on postage! Without further rambling, the six Spica winners are:

143: Carolen

222: Karen

297: Kelly

203: Karyn

20: Daniela

236: Glitter Queen

and the Copic Ciao winner is:

416: Melodie.

I have e-mailed all of you for your addresses.  Thank you for playing!

Sweet 'n Simple

For several hours today I've been playing with some new stamps.  I can't show them quite yet, but there's a sneak peek here of one of the stamps (as well as a stamp giveaway) if you're interested! While I can't share those for a few more days, I have a couple of quick cards to share tonight.

Both cards are made with the Rubber Soul Flower Shop 3008 set, with words added from the Wordsworth Tiny Wise Words Vo26 set. I stamped the images in Black Brilliance ink on Neenah Solar White cardstock, then colored with the following Copic Markers: 0, Y21,k W1, E31, E55m R20, YG03, YG11, and Booo. Dotted grosgrain ribbon is from Julie at Doodliedoo. I used two of the new Cornish Heritage Farms background stamps, Dotted Diamonds (on the blue card), and Large Polka Dot (on the pink card).

On the pink card's focal image, I sketched in some grass to ground the flowers. Stems and grass are colored with Spica Melon glitter pen, and flower centers are covered with yellow Stickles (Ranger).  I used both melon and yellow Spica glitter pens on the blue card, as well as my Spellbinders plain rectangle dies on both cards. The vase on the blue card is coated in clear Sakura Gelly Roll Glaze pen to resemble water.

Remember that the drawing for the Copic products ends on Saturday night (tonight) at 10pm CST. Thanks for visiting!

JOY Blocks and Giveaway

Please note: The giveaway has ended, and the winners are posted here. Thanks for participating!

My stamping friend Emily Giovanni made me order some blocks to decorate for Christmas; perhaps "made me" isn't accurate. . . but she definitely had a hand in the decision! I had meant to post these on Christmas, but Benjamin's getting the flu kept that from happening. (Thank you, by the way, for your many comments for him; he kept rice down yesterday afternoon, had no fever as of last night, and seems to be completely well today. At least he's well enough to talk Rick into taking him outside to shoot cans with his new BB rifle--not my idea, believe me!)

I used the 2" wooden blocks and covered then with Cosmo Cricket Be Good paper, using Royal Coat Decoupage medium to hold the papers on. The chipboard letters are from Cosmo Cricket's Wonderland Cigar Box. After attaching papers to all sides of the blocks, I started sanding by hand and figured out pretty quickly that borrowing Rick's palm sander would help.  (Just so you know, don't turn on a palm sander at 3am, even if your craft room is in the basement; it makes too much noise. . .)  After sanding the edges, I added some artwork to the block tops, stamped in Pearlescent Chocolate Brilliance ink, and colored in with my Copic Markers: 0, W1, W2, W3, E00, E31, E55, E57, Booo, BG49, BG 72, R02, R59YR31, YG11, and YG93. Images were from Lockhart and Elzybells :  Gardening Angel, Trumpet Angel, and Bethlehem. I used an iridescent Swarovski crystal for the center of the star of Bethlehem. All of the edges were aged with Antique Linen Distress ink (Tim Holtz). I used the clear and melon Spica glitter pens to enhance certain parts of each of the images. The clear is useful for almost anything, and the melon is great for plant stems and greenery.

On the other sides of the blocks I used punch outs from the Cosmo Cricket's Be Good Ornament Fashions as well as sentiments from PaperTrey Ink's Holiday Wishes set. I may still add a couple of photos if I can get some good ones before we take out Christmas tree down. (Guess who forgot to take the camera along on Christmas Eve? It's not a huge deal: most of my Christmas Eve shots are notoriously boring and poorly lit. I do much better to pose some pictures after Christmas, in good lighting.)

Since I used my Copic markers on these, this might be a good time to have a giveaway!  The wonderful people from Imagination International (company that supplies the U.S. with Copic markers and Spica glitter pens, among other things), have sent me some goodies for YOU! I have six pairs of Spica Glitter pens (four will contain a Lavender and a Melon pen, and two will contain lavender and another color), and I have four Copic Ciao markers (R11, E11, YG11, and B97). I will divide these into seven giveaways--two glitter pens for six of them, and the four Ciao markers for the seventh. I'll leave this post at the top for a couple of days so that people who get notified about a new post only once a day will have a fair chance too. Drawing via the Random Number Generator will take place at 10:00pm CST, on Saturday, December 29. How do you enter?  Just leave a comment--anything will do. How about the favorite gift that you either gave or received this Christmas?

Thank you for visiting!

The Delight of a True Friend

I hope that you've had a wonderful Christmas! I've been working on a Christmas project that I had fully intended to post tonight, but by the time we sat down for Christmas dinner with guests, I noticed that my little boy was pale.  I felt his head, and he had a fever.  This was clearly not going to be a day to sneak downstairs and stamp after dinner! I'm hoping that it will be a short-lived bug. He's sitting with Daddy right now to give me a few minutes to post.

This card is one that I made a few days ago with one of my favorite Wordsworth stamps, Friend, along with the Cornish Heritage Farms Leaves 3 backgrounder. How about that matching ribbon?  I had a pale silk ribbon that was the wrong color, but a gorgeous texture.  I tried a couple of my Copic markers on it--using them to get a two-toned dyed look! I used Neenah Natural White cardstock as a base, along with Olive and Eggplant cardstocks, Eggplant ink, and a retired SU Spectrum pad, Late Autumn. The cool thing about Spectrum (or Kaleidecolor) pads is that you can buy uninked pads and create your own color combinations. In fact, when I reinked this particular pad, I changed it a bit. I used Pumpkin Pie in in place of Only Orange, and I used Eggplant Envy ink in place of Perfect Plum. My pad now has More Mustard, Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive, Eggplant Envy, and Not Quite Navy. I distressed the cardstock edges with the side of my scissor blades, then aged them a bit further with some Tim Holtz Antique Linen Distress ink.

Well, I'd babble a bit more, but my little guy needs a mom's lap to sit on.  Thanks for visiting!

Part 2: Goldfish Bookclip

Here's my second little bookclip. For this one I used my Spellbinders Nestability Plain circle dies to cut the focal image, a super cute little fishbowl by Karen Lockhart, and an orange mat, then two sizes of the regular scalloped dies to cut the remaining mat layers.  For cardstock I used Prism Frosted Teal and Intense Orange. (If you are missing SU's Cool Caribbean, the Prism Frosted Teal is very similar--the same value, with a marginally warmer  cast to it.) The Copic markers that I used to color the focal image are pictured below: YG03, YG11, B000, YR07, C1, 0, and my custom pale blue marker. I also used an E57 on the pebbles, but I somehow missed photographing it. The goldfish are coated in Spica Orange glitter pen, giving them glimmer that you can't see in a photograph.

I've explained this before, but in case you haven't seen it yet, that clear blender with the blue mark on the end is my custom mixture background marker. I took a clear blender that was beginning to need to be refilled and refilled it with a mixture of mostly clear blender fluid and several drops of B000 ink. It gives a a super-pale shade of blue that's ideal for water or to put on the outside of images.  When I remember to order another clear blender, I'm going to do the same thing with a pale yellow, maybe Y21 or YR 31, since I most often use a pale blue or pale yellow around the outside of an image.  What's the point of making my own?  The colors are so light that they are very easy to blend into the paper. I just run my clear blender around the outer limits of the area that I want tinted, then I start right next to the image with my special pale marker and work right out into the clear blender. If I have any line left, going over it once more with the clear blender usually eradicates it, and I'm left with a nice gradation from pale color to no color.

Would you believe that I'm still addressing Christmas cards tonight? I know, shameful! Somehow December got away from me with deadlines and special projects. That's okay: it's not the end of the world. People will still enjoy cards made with love after Christmas Day as well, and I refuse to stress over that. (There are too many real things to stress over!) I hope that you are having a wonderful time with family and friends.

Birdie Bookclip

Tonight I was playing with some of my new smaller Lockhart images and planning to make inchies out of them.  I used Copic markers to color the Birds image. When I got ready to trim them, however, they seemed to need a round format rather than a square one. My second idea was that I would use three sizes of my Spellbinders Nestability Scalloped circles and make a flower, letting the birds be the flower center on a card front. As I pondered what to do about a stem, it occurred to me that I still had some of the giant paper clips left over from when they were all the rage several months ago. I layered three of the nesting regular scalloped circles, then added my image in the center and liquid pearls around the outside.  Copic marker colors are pictured below. Cardstock is Prism Frosted Yellow.

I have one more giant clip made, but I think I need more light to get a good photo of it; I'll try to get it added tomorrow afternoon when I get a chance. Thanks for visiting! Thanks for all of your encouraging words in the last few days, and I trust that you will have  a very Merry Christmas!

Embrace Ginger Blossom

I'm taking a break from blogging Christmas cards tonight, but I'm still working on a couple of gifts. I hope that you are far enough ahead in preparations that you can just relax and enjoy time with your loved ones!

Tonight's card uses Embrace Life, a set that will be available from your SU demonstrator on January 1, as well as the new Ginger Blossom Designer Paper. This floral paper has almost a retro look to me--a bit more stylized than the stamp set.  I used a sentiment from PaperTrey's Faux Ribbon set to finish off the front. Cardstock is Poison Ivory and River Rock, in addition to the Ginger Blossom paper. I stamped the flowers in Vintage Sepia Versafine ink and colored with watercolor crayons and an aquapainter.  (I used some Eclipse tape to mask the large blossom so that I could stamp smaller images on top of it.) Focal image is cut with a Coluzzle so that I could let parts hang outside the circle, and its mat is cut using a Spellbinders nestability scalloped circle. Flower center is a pale yellow Swarovski crystal. Finally, I used a ticket corner punch to trim my four corners.

Have a lovely day!

Dirty Challenge Penguin December '07

It's time for the monthly past and present SCS Dirties Challenge!  This month's challenge was to use a penguin, along with anything "icy" but excluding any of the color blue.  Yowsers!  Ice with no blue!  I have to say that I got past the no patterned paper stipulation last month more easily than the no blue stipulation for this month!

Being of divided mind, I chose two penguins. My first is an Elzybells penguin fishing, paired with a KI Holiday Collection paper. I used one of the PaperTrey Borders and Corners circle stamps around the outside of the circle.  My second is one of Asela's skating penguins  from Cornish Heritage Farms, along with the CHF Pretty Pattern background. The mat on the second card is Prism Intense Pink, stamped in Pomegranate ink.

I used the Copic markers pictured below--not all of them on both cards, but all of them between the two cards. I also used my Spellbinders Nestability plain and petite scalloped circle dies.

Here is the SCS gallery in which you will find cards for this challenge added during the entire day, most likely. Have fun checking them out!

Finally, be sure to check out the Craft Critique Carnival!  There are some amazing
projects posted there. Even if you have your Christmas gifts done (let's
face it--not everyone is as behind as I am!) you could make many of them
fit a different seasonal gift need. Enjoy!

Bowl Full of Cherries Get Well

Isn't this the cutest bowl of cherries?  (I am attached to this stamp!) I stamped it in Black Onyx Versafine ink on Stamper's Select White cardstock, then made sure it was dry by setting the ink with my heat gun for a few seconds. I then colored with the Copic markers pictures below, then enhanced several of the cherries with Spica clear and red glitter pens, and the leaves and stem with a Spica melon glitter pen. It still seemed to need more pizazz, so I added some Ranger Glossy Accents to several of the cherries for dimension.

How about that cool background?  That's one of Mona Lisa's new CHF backgrounders, Pretty Pattern. So far it's my favorite, but I must admit that it's the first one that I have removed from the packaging too, so I'm sure that I will come to love many more of them! I stamped it in Adirondack Cranberry ink on Prism Blush Red Medium cardstock. I then matted my focal image in Blush Red Dark and Black cardstocks, using my Spellbinders Plain and Petite Scalloped Nestability dies. The sentiment is from Verve Visual's Heartfelt Phrases set, another wonderfully useful little sentiment set, especially for those of us who feel like we need words on the front of every card.

I hope that you have a wonderful day!

Stamp Credits:
Cherries by Lockhart Stamp Company
Pretty Pattern Backgrounder by Cornish Heritage Farms
Heartfelt Thanks by Verve Visual

Coming before noon, CST. . .

I was gone all day today and got home late tonight; I should be able to get a post up by noon Wednesday though. Thanks for your patience!